Raw and reckless rock
Power pop band Mannequin Pussy returns for their third studio album Patience, which drips slowly and also all at once–like a parade to celebrate existence. Within 26 minutes of raw punk attitudes and lyrical exposition, Mannequin Pussy relentlessly seduces you with emotionally telling melodies. But the album is not patient at all–Patience is curated with artistic intelligence and meticulous vision. But most of all, Patience personally interrogates you. It demands your attention. Mannequin Pussy doesn’t care about virtue–whether you want to or not, you’ll listen up.
With rock written in their DNA, Mannequin Pussy reels in a sense of explosive anger and turns it into powerful melodies. While some songs have an underground punk club feel to them, some tracks are gentle with artistic intricacies and lyrical sensitivity. It is rare to see a band play with so many genres in one album while retaining seamless transitions.
Colins Rey Regisford’s vocals are not as apparent on the album as his spiffy bass technique. Regisford straddles between notes changing the sonic quality of each song as he pleases. Marisa Dabice knits guitar rhythms with precise intention, even though each chord echoes like a fuzzy amp. Dabice’s voice is a relic in Patience, as she screams into the mic on some tracks and lets her voice sigh slyly in the background on others. Her typical punk screams kick off tracks “Drunk II,” “Cream” and “Drunk I” while gentle vocal melodies riddle “Patience” and “Fear/ + /Desire.” This discrepancy is not a conflict in artistic vision, rather this change in pace is the result of the band’s scheme to cultivate an antsy feeling of Patience.
Brief track “Clams” clocks in just under 40 seconds with harsh guitar and drums courtesy of Anthanasios Paul and Kaleen Reading respectively. The track slides directly into “F.U.C.A.W” with punk screams that tear into your eardrums–but the emotional reverberation of this screaming is what strikes so unexpectedly deep. About one minute into the track, Dabice’s voice ebbs into the distance like a songbird, which is why “F.U.C.A.W” perfectly fits Mannequin Pussy’s modus operandi: punk rock reels you in with a demanding presence until soft melodies of harmonic pleasure rebalance the song.
Mannequin Pussy has edge and talent, and the band is fearless in the face of creation. The band says their goodbyes in “In Love Again” with the best kind of indie rock track. Beautiful strumming frames Dabice’s voice, slowly dripping into climactic rock as the instruments weave together to tie up loose ends in this album teaching Patience.
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